“We are doing work at the moment that’s looking at the rail work between northern cities. One of the things we will look at is whether they are better approaching in tunnels.

“On Metrolink, the Second City Crossing gives us the capacity we need by the 2020s, but if you look at the 2030s, with up to 250,000 new jobs in the city centre then two-car trams will not be enough. A third city crossing - we have to start challenging ourselves and say if we are a big bold city we probably do need to look underground.”

On Brexit, he added: “It’s nigh on impossible to speculate but more than anything it demonstrates the value of us setting out long-term strategies.”

On top of the £2bn over the last decade, TfGM has secured more than £500m to carry out the future work - and they hope for more in the devolution agreement.

The strategy was not to force people from their cars - but to encourage them to be more flexible and use public transport when they can.

On cycling, he said they were on track to have 10pc of commuters on bikes by 2025.

Tony Lloyd, Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, said Brexit had made ‘the need for devolution even bigger’.

He said technology would ‘take us to places we don’t know’, with gadgets like ‘wristwatch’ payment for trams a real possibility.

He added: “It’s a detailed plan over a long time period - it’s not rigidly in steel. This is people’s opportunity to say what they want.”

Improved A58 and A49 link roads in Wigan (A link road to complete a dual carriageway link between J25 of the M6 and improve access to the southern part of Wigan Town Centre, and Westwood Park employment area). To be completed by 2017